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  1. #1
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    New player - Already absorbed !

    Hello everyone,

    I'm having less and less time to commit on video games for multiple reasons, and that's why I left HearthStone a few months ago. The meta-game felt a bit stall, and the predominance of randomness effects, power-spike cards, and "Aggro-face" fest was a bit too much for me.

    So I was hanging around on the internet looking for a good and casual new TCG which could be played on my android tablet in addition of my computer. (Seems like my wife likes to get me by her side when she's watching bullsh*t on Television ). I came across Shadow Era in a random Sub-reddit I can't even remember and decided to give it a try as it appeared to be an accessible game with some depth.

    I consider myself as a confirmed TCG player as I've played a lot of MTG and HearthStone (being a few times legend and 12 arena wins) but never been in the top notch or part of any competitive scene.


    So, jumping into the game, my first feeling was "Meh", as I found the game a bit "cold" (General dark blue theme and sober cart arts) and lackluster in the "World" screen not having any path to follow. Though I must say that the tutorial is great, not invading the new player game but giving the answers needed.

    I still took time to get myself in, and was not disappointed : The game mecanics are fine and the ressource system (new for me) is pretty appealing. I farmed a bit the AI in the "World" screen and found my games more and more interesting as I improved my game knowledge and deck building.

    Long story short, my jump into the game was a bit bumpy as I first felt like the game was cold. But I got rapidly into it when I understood some of the mecanics behind it.
    I'm far from an expert in terms of design but I'm pretty sure the sobriety behind the first steps in the game may discourage some players, particularly the young ones on mobile devices who are looking for flashes, explosions and "insta-fun".
    What are your opinions about this ? Is it done on purpose to priveligiate a more "mature" and confirmed community ?


    When I knew I would like to some spent time into this game, two big surprises hit me like a truck :

    • The forum community
      It was a great surprise to get into this forums where the threads are clean, and the community has this will to promote the game and help each other. Nothing compared to most of the mobile games indeed.
      The sticky posts helped me a lot understanding important aspects of the game and managing to get the best of the Gold and Shadow Crystals I had. This leads to the second point of this list.
    • The real money value
      It is literally the first free game ever with so much value in real money ressources. For fifteen euros, you can get more than ten preconstructed decks, following your will to play any hero of the game, and resulting to a lot of gold to optimize one or two of them being competitive immediatly.
      I've never seen something like that and I think that this "economical model" may not be the most profitable for wulven but it is really a pleasure for any player who wants to invest some time in the game.
      Concerning numbers, most companies prefer getting 15% of the population buying 100Euros on the game than 50% buying 15Euros.
      Any wulven member or veteran player can tell me what are their thoughts about this ? What are you looking for having this economical policy ? I may understand that the answer do not have to appear on the forum though


    Last part of this thread, the hero I'm currently enjoying the most is Serena with a Board Control cycle deck. Here is the list i play :

    Creatures
    -Nightshade x4
    -Night Owl x4
    -Aldon the Brave x2
    -Oliver Fagin x2

    Spells
    -Retreat x4
    -Backstab x4
    -Bad Santa x2
    -Assassination x4
    -Stop, thief! x4

    Items
    -Black Garb x2
    -Ill-Gotten-Gains x4
    -Thoughtripper's Cutlass x4

    For a total of 40 cards.

    The deck works around controlling the Early board and "outvalueing" the opponent in the late game with a stealthed board, stealing cards and Oliver Fagin as a win condition. This deck is very consistent by the multiple ways to draw and give a lot of adaptability to counter the various decks I face.
    As always, there is good and bad matchups, but it seems fine to me.
    In a consistent and draw-heavy deck like this, is it worth putting a few more cards ? Like 44-46 ?
    Every thoughts and suggestions about this list and how to play it will be very welcome as I know this is far from perfect.

    As the deck above, my english is far from perfect and I'd like to thank a lot for reading me.
    Feel free and welcome to give me any feedback.
    Cheers to everyone and see you soon in this incredibly good game !

    Nallore

  2. #2
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    Glad to hear a new player get involved shadow era has a chatroom on telegram if that interest you as well

  3. #3
    Lead Developer / Designer Gondorian's Avatar
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    Hiya. That's a lot of different and quality content in your first and only post. You will never catch up with my post count if you keep posting like that!

    I'd say 90% of the "cold" look of the game is because SE has been around now for six years on iOS (it was the first TCG on mobile) and it's never had a major overhaul of the graphics. We've had a couple of new title screens and music and some GUI makeover, but that's about it. As devices have got more powerful and flashier, the SE look has not been updated much while new games have come on the scene using the latest tech to its fullest. It's really valuable to hear this kind of feedback - thanks for persisting despite it looking "meh".

    The other 10% of the look is most likely because of flavor. This is an Era of Shadow, in a medieval-ish setting. I think it's mostly coincidence that the maturity of the playerbase lines up with the lack of bells and whistles and cartoony bright graphics.

    For the economics, I think it is fair to say it's always been a bit too lowly priced and that has been detrimental to Wulven, but the running costs for this game are much lower than others. I dread to think how much HS spends on its marketing. As more cards are slowly added, it is more expensive to get a playset though, so the current card pool size will be helping whilst raising prices in general might put the playset out of reach of too many people.

    You might want to copy-and-paste your Serena deck to the strategy section, so this thread can be about your other observations, but I do think it's also worth having here to show other players what you started out with.

    Good luck with your future building and battles!

  4. #4
    Senior Member maxi1230's Avatar
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    There is a Campain in progress to make the game more appealing at first glance.
    You named the exact points why Shadow Era is so amazing. I have yet to find a card game that's more balanced too.
    The only problem people have with this game is its slow development, because of Wulven's limited ressources as an Indie Developer. You can't expect new cards every two months or big events.
    I actually like the mature way cards are presented, looks way better than Hearthstone.

    Assassin of the coming winter
    Warrior of the Blue Phoenix
    Greatness, Reborn

  5. #5
    Senior Member itachiuchiha's Avatar
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    Welcome And Join Us On Telegram For More Fun You will Find Nearly Every Player Of SE on Telegram
    Proud Member Of The Blue Phoenix

    IGN -: BP Itachi Uchiha
    Telegram -: @itachiuchiiha

  6. #6
    Senior Member Bluejet24's Avatar
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    Welcome to SE!

    If i may make a few suggestions to your deck...weapon based heroes like Serena, Baduruu, Amber, Logan and Gwenneth do best with 6+ weapons in standard ~40 decks.. I'd recommend adding AnkleBreakers. AnkleBreakers is imo better than Cutlass.
    IGN: TJ BlueJet24

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  7. #7
    Senior Member BP Holy Punisher's Avatar
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    Welcome to the game

    You made an impressive analysis for a new guy! also really good deck; Serena is one of the toughest heroes to master imo
    I agree with the suggestion of Bluejet to add at least 2 more weapons. Otherwise it's really solid.
    Devoted Protector of the Phoenix's Ashes
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    Greatness, Reborn


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  8. #8
    Chat Mod Burnout1985's Avatar
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    Welcome to SE. I have been playing shadow era since 2011, im still not bored!

    Dowload telgram asap and chat with players from all the world in real time. This is where your adventure should start
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  9. #9
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    Hello again everyone.

    First, I'd like to thank all of you for the warm welcome.


    More specifically,

    da shadowmoon, itachiuchiha, Burnout1985 : I'm not a huge fan of instant messengers, but I can understand that most of the community interaction is going on by this format, maybe I'll give it a try later. Thanks for the invitation anyway

    maxi1230 : I think a campaign would be the best thing that can happen for the first steps in the game. It supports the new players by giving him a roadmap, a first objective to lean on. When he succeeds, pretty confident about his skill, the accomplishment feeling will most of the time lead him to get into multiplayer. That's how I see it.
    Comparing to HearthStone, it is not the same investments, nor the same style. Each player may find the game he prefers, even if HearthStone will be "a bit" more visible !

    Bluejet24, @BP Holy Punisher : Thanks a lot for the feedback, I thought about adding more weapons but I felt like the cycle and card draw may lead me to get them fast enough. I was wrong and I added 2 Spirit Shuriken for early board control. I do not like AB on this deck, as I do not have any advantage leaving disabled allies on the opposing board (better to kill them) and I do not play any copy of sorcerous poison which has a great synergy with. Thus, Cutlass works incredibly well with Serena and hand management.
    I added Eris Fateweaver x2 and Nathanias x2 as I found myself lacking win conditions in control mirrors, particularly against warriors. So I know have 46 cards in it.
    I'll maybe post it on the Strategy section as Gondorian suggested as I climb the ladder (currently like 6-1 at 200+).

    @Gondorian : Thanks a lot for your complete answer. There were some aspects I didn't think of, and your statements makes sense to me.
    By the way, I'll never catch up with the amount of messages you sent on this forum. That's some dedication !


    If I may, I have two more questions :

    • World encounters crashes

      Lately, when I face the AI, the match crashes most of the time. It happens like this :
      I take a turn, press "End Turn". Then the AI draws, begin to play, and another "End Turn" pops up on my side. No matter if I do press it or not, it leaves me to the same outcome : the game is frozen and I must concede.
      I've encountered the problem both on my computer and android tablet.
      Is it a known bug ? I did not find any trace of it on the forum.
    • Payment method
      I was hanging on the shadow era online store and I found something I'd like to buy. Is there anyway not paying by Paypal ? I do not like it and would prefer a credit card transaction.



    Again, thanks everyone for the feedback, and see you soon !

    Nallore

  10. #10
    Lead Developer / Designer Gondorian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nallore View Post

    If I may, I have two more questions :

    • World encounters crashes

      Lately, when I face the AI, the match crashes most of the time. It happens like this :
      I take a turn, press "End Turn". Then the AI draws, begin to play, and another "End Turn" pops up on my side. No matter if I do press it or not, it leaves me to the same outcome : the game is frozen and I must concede.
      I've encountered the problem both on my computer and android tablet.
      Is it a known bug ? I did not find any trace of it on the forum.
    • Payment method
      I was hanging on the shadow era online store and I found something I'd like to buy. Is there anyway not paying by Paypal ? I do not like it and would prefer a credit card transaction.

    If you have a repeatable case for where the AI crashes, it would be really useful if you can describe it and post in the Bug Reports section. The AI is not so good with the newer cards, but we can investigate individual cases and try to help it not get stuck.

    For the online store, it might depend on which country you are in. I thought it did take credit cards. Obviously, there's the in-app purchases to get SC but the special bundle deals exclusive to the store aren't on there (since we can give better value on our own store where Apple/Google won't be taking a 30% cut).

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